SSSD no longer starts after upgrading to RHEL8.8: start condition failed

Issue

• Host was initially installed with RHEL8.7 or earlier
• After system is upgraded to RHEL8.8 with sssd-2.8.2-2, SSSD no longer starts

• IdM/AD integration is not configured

  • sssd-2.7.3-4 or earlier:

  # systemctl status sssd
  ● sssd.service - System Security Services Daemon
     Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/sssd.service; enabled; vendor preset:>
     Active: active (running) since Tue 2023-08-08 01:20:24 EDT; 1min 53s ago
   Main PID: 755 (sssd)
      Tasks: 3 (limit: 11157)
     Memory: 53.9M
     CGroup: /system.slice/sssd.service
             ├─755 /usr/sbin/sssd -i --logger=files
             ├─810 /usr/libexec/sssd/sssd_be --domain implicit_files --uid 0 --gid>
             └─811 /usr/libexec/sssd/sssd_nss --uid 0 --gid 0 --logger=files
  
  Aug 08 01:20:23 rhel8 systemd[1]: Starting System Security Services Daemon...
  Aug 08 01:20:23 rhel8 sssd[755]: Starting up
  Aug 08 01:20:24 rhel8 sssd_be[810]: Starting up
  Aug 08 01:20:24 rhel8 sssd_nss[811]: Starting up
  Aug 08 01:20:24 rhel8 systemd[1]: Started System Security Services Daemon.
  

  • sssd-2.8.2-2 or newer:

  # systemctl status sssd
  ● sssd.service - System Security Services Daemon
     Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/sssd.service; enabled; vendor preset:>
     Active: inactive (dead)
  Condition: start condition failed at Tue 2023-08-08 01:29:00 EDT; 3min 43s ago
             ├─ ConditionPathExists=|/etc/sssd/sssd.conf was not met
             └─ ConditionDirectoryNotEmpty=|/etc/sssd/conf.d was not met